Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi is a short story about a young married couple with not much money and how they deal with buying secret Christmas gifts for each other.

The television film has been updated and expanded. Della (Marla Sokoloff) and Jim (Mark Webber) are newlyweds and desperately in love with a close circle of friends and do their best to help each other out in their working class community.

The couple are financially stretched after a theft and although promising each other not to buy Christmas presents, Della wants to buy a steering wheel for his classic car that he is restoring and takes a part time job to earn enough money for the gift but does not tell her husband.

Jim is saving money to buy Della a lens for her Nikon camera but he is suspicious of her spending time away from him on that secret part time job and then sees her with another man (her boss at the second job) and he leaves her.

As Christmas approaches, their friends hatch a plan to get them back together when they realise what has actually happened.

This is a rather saccharine family film with many sweet natured characters. The working class setting is non existent but the film has enough substance to make it watchable.

There was just nothing on television the other evening that particularly appealed to me, so I watched this lame excuse for The Gift of the Magi. If you want to see an excellent adaption, skip this, and get or rent O'Henry's Full House. Farley Granger plays Jim in this adaption. This film was so far removed in every aspect from the original classic short story, that I had absolutely no clue what I was watching. The names are changed, new locales are invented, the storyline is changed to the ridiculous, but, the acting..the acting is so horrendous, I almost muted the sound/volume. Yes, it was that bad. It was intolerable, unrealistic and pitiful. It was like they were reading not speaking their lines. Drone, drone, drone. Boring. Boring. Boring. I absolutely could not take it. Now, perhaps if the title of this film were changed, it could be a barely acceptable made for TV movie, but as it is now, it is total and complete garbage in every sense of the word--and that goes double for anyone who knows the short story or who has seen this made before.

"Gift of the Magi" departs from the usual holiday film fare in a couple of ways. First, it's not about boy meets girl, but mainly about a young couple who just got married and are very much in love. They both work - she in customer service for a cleaning products company, and he as a bartender. Della and Jim have a mutual male friend and female friend whom they would like to get together. The guy has a seven-year-old son, and these three provide some light humor in the story.

As others have noted, this is a version of the 1905 O. Henry story, "The Gift of the Magi." And the sacrifices by the young couple make the best aspect of this story. Della and Jim each go out of their way to get a special gift this Christmas. It's something their spouse really wants more than anything - but would not expect to receive as a gift. In the process, some things get fouled up for a while, but their unselfishness brings about a happy reconciliation.

Marla Sokoloff carries the film with her bubbly, yet common sense personality as Della. This is just a different enough story that most people should enjoy it as a movie for the holidays. More than a dozen adaptations of the O. Henry story have been put on film. This modern version has some extra twists.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Della Young, "And Ian - he's fantastic. He would treat you so well." Jessie, "There's that too. He's too nice." Della, "Oh, Don't be that, girl." Jessie, "No, but he is. He, he's so helpful, so nice that there's no, there's no mystery. There's no excitement." Della, "Okay. Well, you know you could just continue dating those immature jerks who have bad hygiene and even worse manners."

Mitch, "Look, you get any sweeter on that wife of yours, you're gonna get cavities."

Jim Young, "You know you're not going to get them together just by putting them in the same room together." Della Young, "Well, I'm not gonna get them together unless they're in the same room together."

Jessie, "It's like accusing Mother Teresa of stealing your wallet."

O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is one of the two best-known secular Christmas stories -- the other is, of course, Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". It is also much harder to translate to a screen feature, since O. Henry specialized in short stories with 'snapper' endings -- usually sardonic jokes on their protagonists.

This TV movie makes a fair try at filling up the spaces by updating the story -- modern urban women no longer sell their hair to wig makers, and certainly not to buy fobs for their husbands' pocket watches, since men mostly don't use pocket watches these days.

But the poor we always have with us, so this story is about a husband who wants to buy a good lens for his wife's beloved heirloom camera while she wants to buy an original steering wheel for the vintage car he is restoring -- these stand in for the original gifts. And the leads, Marla Sokoloff and Mark Webber, are handsome and loving.

But the story telling soon gets lost in a maze of secondary characters who are used to fill up the time, and while Ms. Sokoloff continues as earnest throughout, Webber turns into an inconsiderate boor by the time the story is heading towards the lap.

Over all, it's a good effort, and the casting and direction are good, but the script needs a bit of work and focus, making this simply watchable. A pity.

The O'Henry well known and striking short story on which two hour movie was based, is very short and precise. It's a masterpiece story which needs to be short to be as sharp and surprising as it is. It was made into a movie in the 50's, as one of many short tales, with less than a half an hour duration. it is to be expected then, that a lot had to be added to the plot to extend it to two hours.At times it feels like some water has been added to the stew, and it is not as savory. Still,one can certainly find some tasty morsels in it,especially the overall acting quality and the sweet and friendly atmosphere of goodwill surrounding the piece.

It's a working class town,and it's pretty bleak, not the upper class glittery ambiance one often finds in many a Christmas film. It's a credit to this "Gift" that it keeps the setting grim,like the story, but warms up the story with the sweet feelings our couple at the center have for each other, Della and Jim (Marla Sokoloff and Mark Webber). Around them are loving families and friends, in struggling hard times; but the folk in this town do take care of their loved ones, and the film successfully transmits this feeling of community support.

It's a parable for our actual financially depressed clime. It seems to pat us in the back saying love will carry us through(or at least make the ride easier,just what the Magi(Epiphany's Three Kings) ordered.The story turns on how Della and Jim botch up their Christmas gift list.They vow not to exchange presents, then go ahead and secretly plot otherwise. The conspiracy goes awry. Jim gets jealous when he suspects Della of spending too much time away. She has a secret part time job, with an older gentleman boss. Jim thinks Della's having secret rendezvous with an older gentleman lover. Not much trust from Jim here? Well, if Mr. Shakespeare had Othello mistrusting Desdemona, why not this screenwriter having Jim distrust Della? Later on Jim and Della will unwittingly screw up their gift plans,with the effect of producing an ironic twist that will be the heart and soul of this story. We all love surprises, and this story has one of the best!

Marla Sokoloff(Della) and Mark Webber(Jim)put in some really good acting. They're both fit for bigger and better roles. Marla as Della is sweetness and light,the girl next door who blossomed into a great beauty;kind of a young Sally Field with a vamp inside.Mark Webber has a boyish, intense look about him, promising in his soulful eyes a lot of rich layers. His projection of the character's insecurity is perfect for this part.

The casting is very good, including an interesting supporting cast. Megan Riordan(Renee) and Tomas(Ian) Suilleabhain-Sullivan in Gaelic)are lively and authentic as the main couple's supporting family.They have an adorable kid(he's not even in the credits)who melts the screen as he gives Jim a big hug at one of Jim's low moments.

All you need is love, is the appropriate, timely message this Gift of the Magi delivers. It may not pack the surprise punch of the original story, but it does leave you with a feel-good Christmas warmth.